Tuesday, December 1, 2009

I spend at least a few minutes of every day being thankful. When 1 in 8 people in the world do not have access to clean or safe drinking water, that I sit and clack away on my laptop is not lost on me.

Our family adopted a family this year for the holidays. A family in which the children are asking for bare necessities as gifts instead the usual barrage one might expect; it is as telling as it is affecting. But it is a reminder that hard luck can hit any family, and that kindness and generosity can be easily shared. It is not the amount that is given, it is the act of giving itself. So many people donate, contribute, and volunteer to causes throughout the year; I think it is outstanding to see human kindness in action.

And now with the turn of December, there are an abundance of opportunities for every person to contribute. It’s the 31 days of goodness, and easy exercises (and many of them free) to put a smile on someone else’s face as well as your own. And to lean over that blade of grass and whisper: grow, grow.

FREE GOODNESS:

1. Get involved. A super easy website: http://www.dosomething.org can help you find service projects in your zip code. They also encourage you to engage your teenage family members to get involved in philanthropy. Their aim is to inspire the next generation of “doers”. You can also find local events/charities/nonprofits to support at www.dogoodchannel.com

2. Mentor/coach/tutor a future John Grisham, Louisa May Alcott, or Stephenie Meyer at http://826national.org/ which is 7 nonprofits working to celebrate and advance creative writing in students age 16-18.

3. Go to your book case and clean it out. Instead of donating to the library, take those books to a local literacy program.

6. Send a holiday card for FREE to a soldier abroad through a Xerox sponsored program www.letssaythanks.com

7. Save all of your magazines from the month and donate them to a local women’s shelter.

8. Call a local retirement community and schedule a visit. You can spend an hour or two calling bingo. We have done it and it is a total hoot. One of the elderly ladies won and yelled “OH SWEET JESUS”. I crack up now thinking about it. (You can also take your sassy OPI or MAC nail polish instead and do some fun manicures. )

22. Donate a minimum of $10.00 to www.pajamaprogram.org which provides jammies and books for kids in orphanages, group homes, and shelters.

23. Buy some gourmet bean dips, salsa mixes, or spice rubs (among other things) from www.womensbeanproject.com which provides jobs and job training to homeless women. And they just celebrated their 20th anniversary.

24. Lend $25.00 to www.kiva.org which takes your loan and helps woman all over the world start businesses. You can choose your cause and the money will be paid back.

25. Give $25 to Puppies Behind Bars: a program teaching inmates how to train puppies to be service animals.

26. Buy beautiful handmade jewelry from http://www.madebysurvivors.com/ which is combating human slavery and trafficking by providing training, job skills, and life skills to women freed from sex slavery.

27. A $35 donation to Sleeping Children Around the World www.scaw.org provides a BedKit that consists of a mat or mattress, pillow, sheet, blanket, mosquito net (if applicable), clothes outfit, towel and school supplies for a needy child.

28. Give a $35 Gift of Hope to women and children rescued from Sex Slavery and Sex Trafficking at www.sharedhope.org.

29. $35 dollar will also feed a needy child for one month with Share Our Strength at www.strength.org

30. Make an online donation to www.doctorswithoutborders.org which provides aid in almost 60 countries to people suffering from abuse, neglect, famine, malnutrition, lack of health care and natural disasters. $35 will provide 35 vaccines.

31. And finally, because there are so many people on this Earth without clean and safe drinking water, you can donate $20 to http://www.charitywater.org/ and give one person drinking water for 20 years.

108 comments:

Well now, JennyMac, you have written many exemplary blog posts before (your gift for writing speaks for itself), BUT this one? This is, hands down, your finest piece of work to date!! I bow (very, very low) to your willingness and ability to call us all to arms. I will be sending this link to every person I know. I am EXTREMELY proud of you! EXTREMELY! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

THOSE are awesome ideas! We also adopt a family. Hubby's work also adopts kids in an orphanage. AND we "have" a kitty that lives in a FIV (HIV for cats) shelter that we take care of. But many of the charities on this list, I'd never heard of. GREAT ones!!

That is such a great post. I just told my daughter last night that we were going to clean out her room and the playroom and then go and donate all the books and toys so that children could have a great holiday. She loved the idea.

What a really fantastic post Jenny Mac, WELL DONE and thank you so much. I can see that many of these are internationally so I promise to do at least one. I am going to forward this list, if that's ok.

Great post, the kids and I do charity or donation each and every year. There was a Christmas when our family was on the receiving end of some wonderful, charitable people and we make sure to give back each year. (Even though we only asked for jackets and shoes for the two kids we had, a secret person actually loaded up two vehicles and delivered them to our kids. I can't tell you how much we as parents cried for joy and our kids jumped up and down with smiles. Bless you for adopting a family.)

Anyway, I've been spending a lot of time in the Hindu community who praises God through service as one of their faith practices. I'm learning about food service and rather enjoying the education. That's tithing my time. Feels good!

I started out on your post thinking "Oh, our latest posts are so similar" and then you went the extra mile! Great, great links! I'm going to spend some time this morning doing some reading and probably donating on some of these.

Outstanding! One of your commenters said they were going to send your post to their friends. Yup, it's going to my entire address book too! I think I'll add it to my FB too. I finished chopping fruit for a dinner at a homeless shelter and read this and realized how much more I should, could, and will be doing!

Very inspiring. Thank you. I read somewhere every day write down three things you are thankful for in a journal. I started that (although I don't stick with it everyday) but it really puts things into perspective.

Hi! I found my way to your blog via 'Seens From the Back of My Eyelids' and am so happy I stopped by!!! Our family always tries to find organizations to help out during Christmas and throughout the year and as a Youth Leader in our church we try to get projects that the Jr. & Sr. High kids can help so your post today was a welcome surprise and I thank you so much for all this info. I am now a follower and am looking forward to visiting your blog often!

I'm going through quite a tough time myself at the moment but your list has reminded me of all the good stuff around me too - all the good stuff others don't have. Thanks!! Will work my way down the list.

These are all such wonderful ideas. Thanks for sharing them with us! I am definitely going to check a few out... It's so easy and takes hardly any time at all. :) I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! :)

Hi again JennyMac!You don't have to post this but I just wanted to let you know that I just registered with www.kiva.org and made a couple of loans...and for both of the people I loaned to it was the final instalment they needed...yippee! I have heard of Kiva before but your post really made me get up and do it. Thanks for the reminder and for setting such a great example,Simone :)

JennyMac, this list is great! I love, love, love donating and wish I could spend all day doing it (unfortunately I have to work to be able to do that, so...). I am so inspired to do so many of these things and so excited to read this list. I'm keeping this page bookmarked, so I can come back and add some amazing causes to my usual list! Thank you!

Wow. Thanks for posting this. We are involved with several programs already, but I ws telling my husband the other day that I wanted to find some more and really work on teaching our children compassion, giving, and gratitude.

Jenny--I am going to share this if that's okay with you? What an amazing and inspiring list. Everyone can find something, especially me. And we all need gentle reminders. Thank you for posting such thoughtful ideas at such an appropriate time.

thanks to 'my name is pj', i have not only taken your 31 days of goodness to heart, but i was compelled to share you and your goodness with a posting today ... thank you for putting a spark into the true spirit that we all are seeking these days ... big hug and cheers!prairiegirl

Thank you all for reading and I am happy to have you share it. I would love it if everyone we knew did just one thing on this list..imagine the difference!

I tried to email you Simone but your email is not on your site. :) I LOVE kiva...its so inspiring. And for some reason, Mozilla and Internet Explorer will not let me comment on your site today. BOO! My laptop has trouble sometimes with embedded comments.

Jennymac, that was a wonderful list and so very appropriate for this time of year. I will be linking to it, (and crediting you, of course!), and challenging everyone to choose something and stick with it all year in 2010.Thank you so much!

You are truly a girl after my own heart JM! I will print your list out and share it with others. I am working on a book collection project now for our local elementary school, to ensure every child gets a book for Christmas. And collecting for the local food bank. Giving heals! And blesses.Great Post!<><

What a fabulous post...I now have a daily reminder email sent to me for the free kibble to shelter dogs, and am sending lots of these to friends and family...Project Night Night was especially touching...

You can also give gifts in honor of family members or friends to many organizations, both national and local. Most of them will send an acknowledgement/ card to the honoree. My sis-in-law and I are doing this for Christmas and our December b-days.

Excellent post... we have an angel tree and adopt a family, give away coats, and donate to the food bank and rice depot. And we donate to the animal charities and have a mustang sanctuary, so all in all, I feel pretty blessed as well......great list....

I read the first sentence and thought of a smarmy little comment. Then I read the second and fell in love with you. I am a huge advocate of giving year round, but I love nothing more than making the most of the holidays for someone who is less fortunate. This year it is a party for the Make a Wish kids and a turkey dinner for a family whose child has cancer.

Great ideas here, Jen. This reminds me how fortunate I am to step into a hot shower each morning, to have the convenience of running water and to even have a roof over my head. Homeless children is very sad to comprehend.

Wonderful ideas! Thank you for sharing ... is it OK if I post link on my blog (and take all the credit ... haha ... kidding)? For real(s yo) I want to share these great options to give back over the holidays. Let me know if it is ok and I will share ... THANKS!